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85th Congress, ) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. ( Report 
1st Session. | 1 No. 17. 


INCREASE OF THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. 


April 21. 1917. —Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
the Union and ordered to be printed. 


Mr. Dent, from the Committee. on Military Affairs, submitted the 

following 


REPOET. 


[To accompany H. R. 3545.] 


The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill 
H. R. 3545) to authorize the President to increase temporarily the 
Military Establishment of the United States, having considered the 
same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass with 
the following committee amendments: 

Line 8, page 3, insert the word “in” after the word “accept.” 

Line 12, page 3, substitute the word “four” for the word “fourth.” 

Line 17, page 3, insert the word “and” after the word “population.” 

Line 19, page 3, substitute the word “now” for the word “already.” 

Line 24, page 3, substitute the word “shall” for the word “to.” 

Line 25, page 3, strike out “enrollment” and insert “registration.” 

Line 1, page 4, between the words “in” and “this” insert “section 
4 of.” 

Line 3, page 4, strike out the words “and maintained.” 

End of section 2, page 7, add the following paragraph: “Organiza¬ 
tions of the forces herein provided for, except the Regular Army, 
shall, as far as the interest of the service permit, be composed of men 
vho come, and of officers who are appointed, from the same State or 


Dcality.” 


Line 22, page 9, insert the word “State” for the word “local.” 
Line 15, page 10, strike out the word “proper” and insert after 
he word “States” the following: “having jurisdiction thereof.” 
Line 19, page 10, strike out the words “enrollment or.” 

Line 22, page 10, strike out the word “preference” and insert 
precedence.” 

Line 4, page 12, strike out the word “proper.” 

Line 5, page 12, insert after “States” the following: “having juris- 
iction thereof.” 

Line 12, page 12, before the word “recruits” insert the word “such.” 










2 INCREASE OF THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. X V 

v* 

In explanation of the bill the majority of the committee submits 
the following statement: 

This bill authorizes in the first paragraph of the first section the 
increase of the Regular- Army to war strength. This is the present 
law without this paragraph. It was thought, however, better that 
it should be reenacted so as to have all the law for the raising of a 
temporary force in one bill. A modification of the law relative to 
the provisional appointments made under section 23 of the national 
defense act is made for the purpose of authorizing the War Depart¬ 
ment to determine an officer’s unfitness before the expiration of' the 
full two years. If enlistments in the Regular Army are filled up 
according to the authorization of this paragraph, the Regular Army 
would have about 287,000 men. 

The second paragraph authorizes the draft of the National Guard 
up to war strength. This is already authorized by section 111 of the 
national defense act, but is reenacted for the same purpose as the first 
paragraph. The preservation of the organizations or units of the 
National Guard of their State designations is provided for as far as 
practicable. This would authorize* an increase to about 625,000. 
The third paragraph authorizes a call for 500,000 volunteers under 
the act of April 25, 1914, and an additional force of 500,000 if it should 
become necessary. Such volunteer army is apportioned among 
the States and Territories according to population, and raised in units 
of not higher than that of a regiment. It also provides that the vol¬ 
unteer forces shall be recruited in local units as far as practicable and 
company officers appoin ted from such units upon passing such reason¬ 
able examination as to fitness as the President may direct. It gives 
the President full authority to refuse to accept or to discharge from 
the service all persons designated in the exemption section, known as 
section 3. It provides that upon the completion of the registration 
and in the event the President decides that such additional force shall 
not have been effectually raised under the call for volunteers the 
President may raise by selective draft such additional forces of 
500,000 eacfr. This force may be officered by ordering members of 
the Officers’ Reserve Corps to temporary duty, in accordance with 
section 38 of the rational defense act; by appointment from the Reg¬ 
ular Army, the Officers’’Reserve Corps, from those qualified and regis¬ 
tered pursuant to section 23 of the act of January 21, 1903; from 
members of the National Guard drafted into the service; from those 
who have been graduated from educational institutions at which 
military instruction is compulsory; from those who have had honora¬ 
ble service in the Regular Army, National Guard, or volunteer forces; 
from the country at large by assigning retired officers to active duty; 
or by the appointment of retired officers; and enlisted men, active 
or retired, of the Regular Army. 

The fourth paragraph authorizes the raising and training of an 
additional force of 500,000 in the same manner as provided in the 
third paragraph. 

The fifth paragraph authorizes the raising by volunteers or draft 
of recruit training units. The sixth authorizes the raising of such 
number of ammunition batteries and battalions, depot batteries and 
battalions, and such artillery parks, with such numbers and grades of 
personnel as the President may deem necessary. Enlisted men may 
be assigned to such organizations from the forces herein provided for. 


D® of D. 
APR 30 191 7 


/ 


K > 


INCREASE OF THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. 3 


v 


Section 2 authorizes the raising of the Regular Army and the 
National Guard to maximum strength by volunteer enlistment, but 
gives the President authority, if he decides that they can not be 
effectually so raised and maintained, to resort to the selective draft. 
The draft fixes liability to military service upon all male citizens 
between the ages of 21 and 40 years, except alien enemies. Quotas 
from the several States and Territories shall be determined accord¬ 
ing to population and credit is given to every State and Territory 
for the number of men in the military service as members of the 
National Guard who were in the service on April 2, 1917, or who 
have since that date entered the service. The President is also 
authorized by voluntary enlistment or by draft to raise special and 
technical troops as he may deem necessary. 

Section 3 provides for the exemption classes. 

Section 4 provides for the registration of all persons between the 
ages of 21 and 40, and a penalty for failure to register. 

Section 5 authorizes the use of all departments, officials, and agents 
of the various States and of the United States in the execution of 
the act. 

Section 6 provides that qualifications and conditions for voluntary 
enlistment, except as to age limit, which is made from 18 to 40, shall 
be the same as those prescribed for enlistment in the Regular Army, 
and that all enlistments are for the period of the emergency. The 
President is authorized to discharge any enlisted man who has a 
dependent family. It also authorizes the employment on active 
duty of retired enlisted men of the Regular Army. 

Section 7 authorizes the President to appoint for the emergency 
general officers for duty with brigades, divisions, and higher units. 
Vacancies in any grade of the Regular Army due to the appointment 
of officers to higher grades shall be filled in accordance with section 
114 of the national-defense act. 

Section 8 provides that appointments provided b} r the second, 
third, fourth, fifth, and sixth paragraphs of section 1 and by section 
7, and the temporary appointments in the Regular Army author¬ 
ized by the first paragraph, shall be for the period of the emergency. 
This section also authorizes the discharge of such officers by the 


President. 

Section 9 provides that the pay of officers and enlisted men to be 
the same as that of the Regular Army. 

Section 10 carries an appropriation of $3,000,000,000 to carry this 
act into effect. This is a lump sum estimated to be necessary for 
43,000 officers and 1,018,270 enlisted men. An estimate of these 
expenses may be found in the hearings before the Committee on 
Military Affairs April 7, 1917, pages 165 to 183, inclusive. 

Section 11 suspends all existing restrictions upon the detail of officers 
and enlisted men. 

Section 12 provides for the suspension of all laws and parts of laws 
in conflict with this act for the period of this emergency. 


















































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65th Congress, ) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. ( Rept. 17, 
1st Session. ) -j p art 2 . 


INCREASE OF THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. . 


April 21, 1917. 'Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the 
Union and ordered to be printed. 


VIEWS OF THE MINORITY. 

[To accompany H. R. 3545.] 

We, the undersigned members of the Committee on Military Affairs 
of the House of Representatives, feel we can not support the views 
of the majority of the committee on the bill (H. R. 3545) to author¬ 
ize the President to increase temporarily the Military Establishment 
of the United States, and more especially to paragraph 3, section 1, 
which is that feature of the bill providing a volunteer military force 
as against a force based on a system of universal obligation to service 
or selective conscription. The objection to the volunteer system is 
forcefully and succinctly set forth in the following letter of the Secre¬ 
tary of War to the chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs of 
the House. It reads: 

April 17, 1917. 

My Dear Mr. Dent: I do not know how accurate the account in this morning’s 
Post may be as to the present opinion of. the House Committee on Military Affairs, 
but I think I ought to ask you to read this letter to the committee, as I have a deep 
conviction that any compromise of the principles governing the bill submitted by the 
department for the raising of a new &rmy would be attended by unfortunate results. 

The bill as drawn preserves so much of the volunteer spirit as can be preserved 
without embarking on the experiment of a mixed system of draft and volunteering. 
It makes place for several hundred thousand men above the age of 25 who may be 
moved to volunteer, and by equalizing the terms and condition of service in the 
Regular Army, National Guard, and additional forces gives such volunteers entire 
equality with all others in the national forces. 

The drafting provision starts at the outset a process by which the forces of the country 
can be called as they shall be needed, according to an equal and just system, and it 
has these merits: 

1. It spreads the burden of military preparation equally throughout the United 
States. 

2. It is certain in its operation, so that after the registration is made every man in 
the country will know whether he is to be called and when he is to be called upon, 
allowing those who are not be to called, or whose call is postponed, to continue their 
normal "pursuits undisturbed by uncertainty as to their duty and unagitated by 
neighborhood pressure or misunderstanding. 

3. It starts at the beginning of the accumulation of these new forces, and has none 
of the character of a penalty which attaches to the draft when it is used after volun¬ 
teering has been tried and failed. 


5 









6 


INCREASE OF THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. 


I have studied every report I can secure of the use of the volunteer system abroad 
and in our own country, and I believe it to be true that in every place where it has 
been tried, whatever success it has had has been due to a system of compulsions more 
harassing and almost as drastic as the provisions of a law itself. Old men and young 
and old women have united to urge young men to volunteer, appealing to local and 
State pride, and have enforced their appeal by social ostracisms, by pinning yellow 
ribbons on the coats of young men, and by epithets and outcries which have finally 
driven the reluctant into the ranks, and humiliated both the ready and the reluctant 
by the methods used. 

Such objection as there has been to the draft has, in nearly all cases, been due to 
the fact that it came as an exercise of the superior power of the Government after a 
fruitless appeal to the- volunteer spirit. 

In the countries of Europe where the volunteer system has obtained, those respon¬ 
sible for it were excused because they could not have foreseen at the beginning the 
results, but we have their experience to guide us, and I believe that those responsible 
in this country for repeating the costly errors which have been made abroad will not 
be able to make that explanation. 

I beg, Mr. Chairman, that you and your associates will realize that l am deeply in 
earnest in this matter. With the greatest deference to the rights and independence 
of judgment of your committee and the House, I still feel obliged as Secretary of 
War, and therefore your responsible adviser on this subject, to urge the passage of 
the bill as drawn. This is the greatest war in the history of the world. Our partici¬ 
pation in it is as yet undetermined in many of its modes and wholly as to its duration 
and extent, but we are called upon to inaugurate a system which, in any event or 
contingency, will place our country in a situation where it can contribute the trained 
men and the means necessary to bring this war. to a conclusion which will mean a 
vindication of the principles upon which we entered it. We must, therefore, prepare 
to array the Nation, not by haphazard means, and (if I may say so without offense) 
not by volunteering, either of persons or of property, but by an ordered, systematic 
devotion of every man and every resource of our Nation to the task, and this can be 
done only by placing upon the statute books of the Nation a system which assigns to 
our people each his part according to his strength, and which leads them to forego, 
in the interest of the common cause, all pride as to method and preference as to 
service, allowing the organized agencies of our democratic Government to judge 
where each can best serve his country. 

In conclusion, I beg to assure you that I have no alarm on the subject of militarism 
in America, and particularly no alarm of any such consequence from the pending 
measure, temporary as it is, and designed for this emergency. Militarism is a philos¬ 
ophy ; it is the designation given to a selfish or ambitious political system which uses 
arms as a means of accomplishing its objects. The mobilization and arming of a 
democracy in defense of the principles upon which it is founded and in vindication 
of the common rights of men in the world is an entirely different thing, and both the 
people of the United States and the people of the world will be inspired to see that 
we are brave enough and far-sighted enough to lay our peace-time preferences aside 
in the interest of that form of common effort which will most certainly and most 
speedily accomplish our national purpose. 

If the members of your committee, prior to a final decision, will permit me, it will 
give me great pleasure to appear before them again and to urge more at large the 
convictions which I have here sought to press upon their attention. 

Respectfully, yours, 


Newton D. Baker, Secretai'y of War. 

Hon. S. H. Dent, Jr., 

Chairman Committee on Militai'y Affairs , 

House of Representatives. 


The bill as originally forwarded to the chairman of the Committee 
on Military Affairs was drafted in the War Department and has the 
approval of the Commander in Chief of the Army, his civilian repre¬ 
sentative, the Secretary of War, and the officers of the General 
Staff and the Staff Corps. The military officers are the experts of 
the Government in military matters. It is to them the Nation will 
look for the organization and the conduct in the field of our armies 
in the present war. The study of military plans and problems con¬ 
stitutes their life work. On the other hand the members of the 
Committee on Military Affairs are laymen. They are not military 


INCREASE OF THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. 


7 


men. And yet the majority of the committee have seen fit to set 
their own views on the raising of the proper military forces for the 
successful conduct of the war above the views of the trained military 
experts of the Government. In this great crisis we deem it to he 
our patriotic duty in this matter of increasing temporarily the Mili¬ 
tary Establishment of the United States to follow the counsel of the 
Commander in Chief of our Army and his expert advisers. We de¬ 
sire to follow the plan which they have laid down for us in this matter 
rather than follow any plan which we ourselves might devise. 

The experience of the North and of the South with the volunteer 
system during the Civil War should recur to us with appealing con¬ 
viction at this time. Both sides had to resort to conscription before 
the war ended. The South in the first year of the war and the North 
in its second year. When volunteering did not bring recruits as 
rapidly as was desired, the laws putting the draft into operation were 
enacted. The conscript was often looked upon with contempt. If 
the principle of universal obligation to service had been invoked in 
the beginning, and the willing and unwilling citizens had gone- into 
the Army together at the outset under the same law, there would 
never have arisen the discrimination between the willing and the 
unwilling soldier that was brought into being by the fact that part 
of the soldiers volunteered and part were conscripted. As it was, it 
was felt that the conscript had to be forced into the'service of his 
country, and ever since that period the word “ conscription” has 
carried with it a meaning of reproach. 

If the majority plan were adopted at this time and should again 
prove a failure, the conscript would once more be looked upon with 
disfavor. If, on the other hand, the legislation that is enacted pro¬ 
vides for selective conscription, every citizen of the Republic will know 
that those who have been selected have been called to the colors by 
their country as a universal obligation to serve in the hour of the 
Nation’s need. 

In the present world war, England, whose military system had 
been somewhat similar to our own, resorted to all kinds of expedients 
to furnish the necessary troops she required under the volunteer 
system. It is asserted by those who favor the latter system that in 
England the Government was enabled to recruit upward of 
5,000,000 volunteers before they resorted to conscription. They fail, 
however, to tell how those volunteers were secured. They fail to 
point out the compelling influence on hesitating minds of the exten¬ 
sive advertising campaign through the distribution of hundreds of 
thousands of derisive colored posters throughout the United Kingdom. 
They fail to speak of the insults that were visited upon the heads of 
those unfortunate Englishmen who did not immediately, or who 
could not finally, respond. They fail to tell of such indignities as 
thrusting white feathers into the hands of young men and pinning 
yellow ribbons to their coat tails in the attempt to brand them as 
“slackers.” They fail to mention the campaign of anonymous letters 
to drive men into the volunteer forces. They fail to speak of the 
social ostracism that was resorted to in order to force men to volunteer. 
And these same tactics were similarly employed in Canada and Aus¬ 
tralia in the effort to force men to volunteer for the war. 

After two years of the volunteer system England was compelled 
for her own protection to adopt a system of “universal obligation to 


8 


INCREASE OF THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. 


service,” which is but another name for selective conscription. 
Before the latter system was adopted she went through various 
stages of experience, each stage entailing long discussion, consider¬ 
able delay, and the cost of many men and much treasure. It is gen¬ 
erally accepted in England to-day that if she had adopted universal 
obligation to serve at the very outset of the war that country would 
he in a much better position than she is at present. Capt. Benson, 
of the Somerset Yeomanry, testified before the Committee on Mili¬ 
tary Affairs, on April 14 , and stated the reasons why his country 
came to adopt the selective conscription system. We quote from 
his testimony as follows: 

The democracy of England really forced on this universal military obligation. 
We do not like calling it conscription over there. There were about five reasons, I 
think, that forced it. The first was that the democracy there argued that the State 
gave equal privileges to every man and that the obligation should also be equal, and 
that the voluntary system savored of privilege, because A and B come up and enlist 
and C and D do not. The argument was that why should A and B bear an obligation 
that C and D do not bear when their privileges of citizenship are exactly alike. That 
was one of the greatest arguments, and that was forced chiefly by the Labor Party 
and by the mass of public opinion. 

The second reason was that it was evident after a time that universal obligation 
secured infinitely greater efficiency because the State, if it has every man of military 
age under an obligation to do his duty by the State, can tell him exactly what to do; 
and under our volunteer system at the beginning of the war thousands of men from 
the coal mines, the shipbuilding yards, mechanics and farm laborers, enlisted and 
went out. Those men were skilled to a very great extent. Afterwards, when urgent 
necessity for those men came, we had to withdraw a great many men from the front 
line and bring them back to the workshops where they were urgently necessary. 
Of course, under a system of universal obligation the State can simply say, “You stay 
in the workshop, and you go.” In other words, A and B were very often the coal 
miners and the farm laborers, and C and D were perhaps men selling ribbons in a 
woman’s dressmaking shop where they would not have been missed nor upset the 
military effort. 

The third point was economy; and this, as a matter of fact, came under my own 
view. Very often A and B, who enlisted, were married men with large families, 
while C and D were single men, say. While those men were on service the State 
had to pay separation allowances and dependent allowances for A’s and B’s wives 
and children and dependents, and those allowances were a very serious factor. In 
fact, it was laughingly said that if a man only had enough children his pay would 
be as much as the pay of a general, and that was a factor that had great weight. In 
one case I was told to enlist a squadron for certain purposes, and these men were just 
civilian laborers. They were given 25 shillings a week. The very day we put them 
into uniform, on account of the fact that it was under the volunteer system and we 
took all men who came, married or single, the pay list went up the very next week 
by 87 per cent on account of the separation allowances for children, etc. There is 
no doubt about the efficiency and economy of the system of universal military obli¬ 
gation. You can then choose the single men and reject the married men with large 
families and big dependencies, and if a man is injured, in the case of a single man 
you have no separation allowances to pay to his wife and children, and if he is killed, 
you have no pension to pay. It is very, very extravagant, they found in England, 
to take any man who comes, because you will not be able to pick and choose, and 
the only way you can pick and choose is simply to say, “You are all equally liable.” 

The fourth thing which I think drove the people to it was continuity of effort, and 
that was a very important thing. They have found during the war that there was 
always in England an anxiety as to how many men you could get at a certain time, 
and I think undoubtedly that affected some of their efforts. If we could have pressed 
home our advantage with a large number of men, we might have been very much 
better off, but as it was, you had to look at the recruiting, and you would see in the 
papers that the recruiting was bad or good this week. When the Zeppelins came over 
Scarborough, or something of that sort happened, it would be good. By universal 
obligation you can look down your list and groups and categories and say that on 
January 1 I will have so many men if I want them, and it is a very great thing for 
military effort to have such continuity, so you can look ahead and make your plans, 


INCREASE OF THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. 


9 


« aS ^° U g en ^ emen know, in any other business, if you can only look ahead. 

I he faith reason was that a great many men would go because they were forced by 
public opinion to go, and very often, as I have said, married men who perhaps ought 
n li j i v 1 e & one enlisted. There, were other men who did not go, and they were 
ca _l e( !ni! ac ^ er - s ’ but a » rea ^ m any men were called slackers who were not slackers at 
• ^ney said that the unmarried men ought to go first. Now, since we have had 

m England universal obligation to serve, the word ‘‘slacker” and other terms of 
opprobrium of that kind have disappeared. Every man goes when he is asked to 
step 111 and fulfill his obligations in return for the privileges he has received. 

The sixth point is equal distribution of effort and obligation. In other words, we 
know that in some districts, which I shall not name, recruits have come in to a tremen¬ 
dous extent, and they would always come in from those places that had been bom¬ 
barded by Zeppelins, while other districts would not send any recruits at all. I 
imagine that you would find the same condition in this country. By bringing in this 
universal obligation, it means that you can have an equal distribution of effort and 
obligation throughout the whole country, and you would be meeting the situation 
fairly. I think that that is really the feeling that forced the democracy of England 
to claim this universal obligation from the Government, and it is now working abso¬ 
lutely well. While there were many people who were very much against it at first, 
I think now the people are overwhelmingly in favor of it. 

Some of those who favor the volunteer system point with pride to 
the fact that 1,000 volunteers are enlisting every day at the present 
time. According to a letter from the Secretarv of War to the chair¬ 
man of the committee, 724,718 volunteers will be required for our 
Regular Army and the National Guard organizations. It would 
therefore take 724 days, including Sundays, or about 2 years, to get 
the volunteer forces required for these two branches alone of our 
military establishment. Does that look very hopeful? Another 
argument that is put forth by those in favor of the volunteer system 
is that we will get an army of 500,000 men quickly. The testimony 
of the Secretary of War before the committee shows that the depart¬ 
ment will not be able to equip 500,000 men for several months. If 
enlistments under the volunteer system were to begin at once and 
were to continue as rapidly as the most sanguine partisan of that 
system could desire we would not be able -to equip such a force at the 
present time. Our failure in that direction would necessarily dis¬ 
courage enlistments, and eventually we would have to fill even the 
Regular Army and the National Guard organizations by the draft 
system. Nor is that the only difficulty. It will take many months 
to select and train the necessary officers for such a force. Without 
proper officers the enlisted personnel under the most favorable cir¬ 
cumstances would be little more than a disorganized mob. 

The plan of the minority, on the other hand, embraces volunteer 
enlistments for the Regular Army and the National Guard organiza¬ 
tions which are already in existence under our laws. Concurrently 
with such enlistments we would provide immediately for an addi¬ 
tional force of 500,000 men under the principle of universal obliga¬ 
tion to service or selective conscription. Under that plan we would 
know exactly how many men we could depend on at any particular 
time for fighting the battles of this war. The volunteer system would 
always carry in its train an element of uncertainty. It is our judg¬ 
ment that the volunteer system is not a fair one. It is neither 
equitable nor democratic. In this Republic every American should 
esteem it an honor to hear his share of the country’s burdens. That 
can only be done under the principle of universal obligation to serve. 
In our opinion it is for the nation, not the individual, to determine 
what service the citizen should render. 


10 


INCREASE OF THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. 


Of the eight members of the Military Affairs Committee signing 
this minority report, four saw actual service in the Volunteer Army 
during the Spanish-American War, and one of these saw additional 
service during the Mexican border trouble. They have knowledge at 
first hand of the inefficiency of the volunteer system and they all join 
in this report protesting against the evils of that system and in favor 
of a system based on universal obligation to service. 

Julius Kahn. 

John C. McKenzie. 

Frank L. Greene. 

Richard Olney, 2d. 

John Q. Tilson. 

Thomas S. Crago. 

Thomas W. Harrison. 

George R. Lunn. 


65th Congress, ) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, j Rept. 17, 
1st Session. f _ j Part 3. 


INCREASE OF THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. 


April 21, 1917.—Committed to the Committee of the whole House on the state of 
the Union and ordered to be printed. 


MINORITY VIEWS BY MR. CALDWELL. 

[To accompany H. R. 3545 ] 

I am in favor of the draft feature of this bill, and feel that it should 
he put in operation at the earliest possible moment. The words 
draft and conscription have come to have an odium given to them 
hy the unfortunate use of the draft method only after a sufficient 
force could not be obtained to meet the requirements hy volunteer 
enlistment. No such odium will attach if the draft is put into opera¬ 
tion while the volunteers are coming in large numbers. 

The bill makes it necessary to try out the volunteer system or 
declare it a failure before the draft can be put into operation. The 
volunteer provision is permissive only, hut it leaves no other course 
open to raise the army we need now until volunteering has been 
tried and found unsatisfactory. 

There is a large number of men of military age who have had 
military training in this or some other country, who can be spared 
from their civil pursuits, and who would be glad to volunteer for 
this emergency if they could do so without joining the Regulars or 
the National Guard. The bill will close the doors to these men if 
they are above the age of the selection (probably 26) and result in 
the loss of their services in the military arm, but this will not be as 
serious a loss as would come through delay, dissension, or division. 

I have pressed this view upon the Secretary of War and upon the 
President, and my only answer has been that they thought that the 
situation could he best met by confining the volunteers to the Regu¬ 
lars and the National Guard. 

There is much force in the argument that it is traditional with the 
English-speaking race to fight its wars with volunteers; that we 
should start our wars with a willing army, and that each individual 
was best able to judge for himself what particular line of endeavor 
he should best pursue in the defense of his country. But this is no 
ordinary war and should be approached with the hope that it will 
not last long, but with the intention of providing for the worst that 

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12 


INCREASE OF THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. 


could happen, namely, a long war, so therefore conscription at the 
outset is the logical answer. 

Under the circumstances and because the delay that must neces¬ 
sarily occur in the final passage of the bill carrying any kind of a 
provision recognizing volunteers, 1 am constrained to believe that the 
best interests of the country will be subserved by striking from the 
bill the provision of subdivision third of section 1, authorizing the 
President to call for volunteers, and the proviso accompanying same. 

Respectfully submitted. 


Chas. Pope Caldwell. 


April 21, 1917. 



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